TIJUANA SEWAGE SPILL CLOSES BORDER BEACHES

The first notice came Monday, as surfers in Imperial Beach noted a stench and a yellowish plume in the water near the mouth of the Tijuana River.

San Diego County environmental health officials acted that same day to close the beach, after receiving notice from the Imperial Beach-based group WiLDCOAST. But WiLDCOAST claims its calls to government offices south of the border went unheeded: it was a holiday in Mexico, and no one was answering the phones.

“The big picture is that there has to be better communications between both nations,” said Paloma Aguirre, WiLDCOAST’s coastal conservation program manager. “These spills can and should be prevented, but in case of an accident, the response should be immediate,” Aguirre said.

The extent and exact source of the contamination remained unclear Tuesday, but concern was strong enough to prompt Tijuana municipal authorities to close the beach near the border at Playas de Tijuana.

A news release Tuesday morning from the city of Tijuana reported that sewage was flowing into the ocean from two points at Playas de Tijuana, with the total flow at four liters per second.

The Baja California utility agency that maintains the city’s sewage system, CESPT, reported Tuesday night in a news release that crews were working on replacing a pipe, which had become blocked.

North of the border, the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission on Tuesday reported a second source of potential contamination: polluted flow from the Tijuana River north of the border into the Pacific Ocean.

The flow “appeared more contaminated than usual,” said Steve Smullen, area operations manager for the San Diego field office of the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission.